- A recent imaging study in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health identified metabolic dysfunction in the brains of people with Long COVID who experience PEM. The study assessed 40 people with the disease from a Long COVID clinic with an advanced imaging technique that can detect various cancers and neurologic conditions. Researchers found that people who experienced fatigue and post-exertional malaise had significant cerebral hypometabolism, or a reduction of the brain’s glucose consumption, in two parts of the brain. Similar cerebral changes have been found in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the researchers wrote, and stated that with more research, the technique could serve as a biomarker for Long COVID.
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- People who have Long COVID are more likely to exit the workforce, a new study in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases found. Dutch researchers assessed over 3,000 people who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection earlier in the pandemic, following up two years after their infections. They found people with Long COVID were twice as likely to leave the workforce, compared to those who never developed the disease. They also found that 46% of those with Long COVID were unable to work. “These results highlight the substantial personal, societal, and economic burden of [Long COVID] and the urgent need for long-term support, workplace accommodations, and targeted interventions,” the authors concluded.
- A new clinical trial will assess the HIV drug Maraviroc in combination with the cholesterol drug Atorvastatin. The combined phase 2/3 trial, called IMPACT-LC, aims to recruit 252 participants; half will take a combination of the two drugs, while the other half will receive two placebo pills. The study is the second clinical trial in the U.S. to evaluate the drug Maraviroc — a separate trial is assessing the drug on its own alongside the HIV drug Truvada. The Maraviroc/Atorvastatin combination was discussed at the federal government’s Long COVID Roundtable last year by HealthBio Inc. founder Bruce Patterson. This study is located in Tucson, Arizona, and may add more sites in the U.S. Read more about the trial on HealthBio Inc.’s website.
